Florida State settles lawsuit with alleged Jameis Winston rape victim for $950,000

[theguru]

Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston continues to face litigation from Erica Kinsman, who alleged that he raped her in December 2012. Kinsman now has some extra cash to fund her effort to prove Winston’s guilt.

 

Via Matt Baker of the Tampa Bay Times, Florida State has settled a lawsuit brought by Kinsman under Title IX, a federal law that requires public universities to investigate allegations of sexual assault. Florida State has announced that $250,000 will go to Kinsman and that $700,000 will go to her lawyers, presumably due to the presence in Title IX of a provision allowing a prevailing plaintiff to recover attorneys’ fees, which gives attorneys an incentive to take on cases of this nature.

 

Typically, settlements of civil actions occur under an agreement of confidentiality. Because FSU is a public institution, the settlement can’t be kept secret. However, Florida State is entitled to blame the outcome on anticipated litigation costs and not on the possibility that Florida State was in the wrong.

 

“We have an obligation to our students, their parents and Florida taxpayers to deal with this case, as we do all litgation, in a financially responsible manner,” Florida State president John Thrasher said in the release. “With all the economic demands we face, at some point it doesn’t make sense to continue even though we are convinced we would have prevailed.”

 

Thrasher added that the school would have faced “millions of dollars in additional litigation expense,” which if true should prompt Florida State to take a closer look at the billing practices of its outside lawyers.

 

The problem for Winston is that news of the settlement not only creates the impression that Florida State did something wrong, but that Winston did, too. And this could make Winston even more determined to do whatever he has to do to win the case that Kinsman has brought against him.

 

Florida State settles lawsuit with alleged Jameis Winston rape victim for $950,000 | ProFootballTalk

[theguru]

I have no idea what happened but sometimes I think "the system" does more harm than good.

 

And if Florida State was convinced they would have prevailed then Shame On Them for settling.

[littleluck55]

Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston continues to face litigation from Erica Kinsman, who alleged that he raped her in December 2012. Kinsman now has some extra cash to fund her effort to prove Winston’s guilt.

 

Via Matt Baker of the Tampa Bay Times, Florida State has settled a lawsuit brought by Kinsman under Title IX, a federal law that requires public universities to investigate allegations of sexual assault. Florida State has announced that $250,000 will go to Kinsman and that $700,000 will go to her lawyers, presumably due to the presence in Title IX of a provision allowing a prevailing plaintiff to recover attorneys’ fees, which gives attorneys an incentive to take on cases of this nature.

 

Typically, settlements of civil actions occur under an agreement of confidentiality. Because FSU is a public institution, the settlement can’t be kept secret. However, Florida State is entitled to blame the outcome on anticipated litigation costs and not on the possibility that Florida State was in the wrong.

 

“We have an obligation to our students, their parents and Florida taxpayers to deal with this case, as we do all litgation, in a financially responsible manner,” Florida State president John Thrasher said in the release. “With all the economic demands we face, at some point it doesn’t make sense to continue even though we are convinced we would have prevailed.”

 

Thrasher added that the school would have faced “millions of dollars in additional litigation expense,” which if true should prompt Florida State to take a closer look at the billing practices of its outside lawyers.

 

The problem for Winston is that news of the settlement not only creates the impression that Florida State did something wrong, but that Winston did, too. And this could make Winston even more determined to do whatever he has to do to win the case that Kinsman has brought against him.

 

Florida State settles lawsuit with alleged Jameis Winston rape victim for $950,000 | ProFootballTalk

 

That is crazy. Lawyers get almost 3 times as much as the rape victim. Doesn't seem right.

[ggclfan]

I guess I am confused as to why any university has to investigate this at all. If she is alleging she was raped, that is a criminal matter for the police to deal with. What is the university supposed to do but cooperate with the police in the investigation?

[75center]

I guess I am confused as to why any university has to investigate this at all. If she is alleging she was raped, that is a criminal matter for the police to deal with. What is the university supposed to do but cooperate with the police in the investigation?

 

From the article: " Florida State has settled a lawsuit brought by Kinsman under Title IX, a federal law that requires public universities to investigate allegations of sexual assault"

 

I don't know the background of the law but I assume it was because there were many rape accusations that were being ignored by the universities.

[ggclfan]

From the article: " Florida State has settled a lawsuit brought by Kinsman under Title IX, a federal law that requires public universities to investigate allegations of sexual assault"

 

I don't know the background of the law but I assume it was because there were many rape accusations that were being ignored by the universities.

 

I get that. I just don't know why a university is supposed to investigate alleged crimes. I thought they were supposed to teach students and the police was supposed to investigate crimes. If someone is robbed at a university, is the university supposed to investigate it? I am being serious. The university has no power to arrest anyone, right? Now they could suspend a student for wrongdoing but how are they supposed to conduct investigations for criminal wrongdoing? That is a police matter.

[75center]

I would imagine someone wanted the University to participate more fully in the process as it could have been thought that they would in fact hamper a criminal investigation that might shed a negative light on the university. I don't understand the reasoning behind a lot of laws.

[Getslow]

I get that. I just don't know why a university is supposed to investigate alleged crimes. I thought they were supposed to teach students and the police was supposed to investigate crimes. If someone is robbed at a university, is the university supposed to investigate it? I am being serious. The university has no power to arrest anyone, right? Now they could suspend a student for wrongdoing but how are they supposed to conduct investigations for criminal wrongdoing? That is a police matter.

 

Sexual Assault and rape are treated differently than other crimes from a university perspective due to the mandates in Title IX.

 

Schools vary on the degree to which they will investigate other crimes. Some will conduct investigations to see whether criminal actions violated a school's honor code, but we're getting a little away from ourselves now.

 

In the end, I'm not crazy about universities conducting such investigations on assault and rape cases. These institutions don't have the time or the resources to do it properly and even worse, given the bad publicity that can come from these things, schools have huge incentives to shove the investigations under the rug.

 

Some reforms to the Title IX requirements are probably necessary.

[theguru]

Sexual Assault and rape are treated differently than other crimes from a university perspective due to the mandates in Title IX.

 

Schools vary on the degree to which they will investigate other crimes. Some will conduct investigations to see whether criminal actions violated a school's honor code, but we're getting a little away from ourselves now.

 

In the end, I'm not crazy about universities conducting such investigations on assault and rape cases. These institutions don't have the time or the resources to do it properly and even worse, given the bad publicity that can come from these things, schools have huge incentives to shove the investigations under the rug.

 

Some reforms to the Title IX requirements are probably necessary.

 

Good points.

 

I recently watched a special on Fox News about the injustices perpetrated by Universities against alleged male rape perpetrators on campus. If I remember correctly the Obama administration did some executive order stuff mandating Universities to look into alleged rapes on campus. It got ambiguous but basically the reporter was saying Obama is using the pen to create policy on campus and then play both ends against the middle to create new law. The only problem is the alleged perpetrators weren't being afforded the proper due process but you can't unring the bell when you publicly suggest someone is a rapist.

 

I think we are going to see more young men have to take legal action against overzealous Universities and even use Title IX to make sure their rights are protected.

 

In short, what has happened in some cases is the University passes judgement but the police department says they are not going to charge the suspect which means the alleged suspect is essentially cleared by the police but still has the problem of the University kicking him off campus and blackballing him at other Universities.

 

And watching the show it gave me flashbacks of investigating rapes. All too often the guy is making a lot of sense and the victim's story is a couple fries short of a happy meal, and that is putting it nicely. But you still end up taking the report because if you don't...

 

Coming full circle, I am sure somewhere in the mixed bag of tricks Florida State had some legal and/or compliance issues and it was much easier for them to throw money at the problem instead of taking the system on. And why not, it's our money, not their money paying off the alleged victim and her lawyers.

 

Trust me when I tell you this everyone, the last thing we as a society need is anymore political correctness infused into rape reporting and cases. It was a cluster long before the Feds got involved and they are only making it worse.